


Of Women and Adventure

by dustandroses



Category: Dragaera - Steven Brust
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Author's Favorite, Bi-Curiosity, DragaeraVerse Ficathon, Drunken sex, Early Vlad, First Time, Interspecies Sex, M/M, Other, POV: Loiosh, Pre-Cawti, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 21:38:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1279795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dustandroses/pseuds/dustandroses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vlad and Kragar get drunk and discuss subjects near and dear to their hearts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Women and Adventure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cawti](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Cawti).



> **Betas:** Ozsaur, my hero and shit  & Orca_girl, my expert on all things Dragaeran.  
>  **Notes:** The story is set very early in Vlad's career in the business end of The Jhereg. Vlad and Kragar are both still working for Nielar.  
>  This story is told from Loiosh's POV.
> 
> Written for the DragaeraVerse Ficathon, and first posted on January 25, 2006. I was writing for Cawti, and her requests were simple:  
>  _I prefer early Vlad, anything but non-con and chan. I'm good with violence, I'm okay with slash or het or femme or gen. Um...Loiosh is my favorite character, if that helps. Oh, and please no Cawti-bashing. Just because._
> 
>  **Another Note:** As in the books, all psionic conversation will be in _italics_. In this instance, that means when Vlad (who is a witch) talks to Loiosh (who is his familiar) the conversation (which takes place only in their heads) will be in _italics_.
> 
> DragaeraVerse is a series of novels by a wonderful writer named Steven Brust, who is my favorite fantasy writer, ever. DragaeraVerse is a marvelous world of adventure, swords, witches and their familiars, sorcerers and their staffs, floating castles, an underworld populated with the normal amount of bad guys and even assassins that can grow a conscience when prompted just right. You should be able to follow along fairly well without it, but I've made an intro which you can find below (click on the words _more notes_.)

Have you ever noticed how the sharpest and most perceptive people can be the most blind? The boss was like that about Kragar; they'd been partners for almost two years now, and he just didn’t have a clue. I mean, here I am, supposedly the least experienced in the ways of both Easterners and Dragaerans, and **I** knew.  
  
But then I do have more of an outsider’s perspective. Maybe the boss was a little too close to the situation. But there are some things he just doesn’t get about Dragaerans, despite his Jhereg’s eye view on their personal habits. I think it was just something that never occurred to him. But once he’d had it spelled out to him he just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could he?  


* * *

  
The boss had just “worked” (which is what they call it in the Jhereg when an assassin sends someone to Deathsgate Falls), and he’d gotten well paid for it, so he was flush, and anxious to spend at least a little of it as soon as possible. It’s a human thing, I think. Something to do with immediate gratification. At least that’s what the boss said when he dragged Kragar out to an expensive restaurant to celebrate. But as usual, nothing makes him hornier than killing a man, so all he could think about was heading down to the Eastern Quarter and finding himself a girl.  
  
Kragar tried to talk him into checking out the local brothels, promising him that the tags were clean as well as beautiful, but well, the boss has always had a thing about sex with other species. Maybe it has something to do with the height difference? Eastern women tend to be slightly smaller than the men, so it might be a bit unsettling for the woman he's having sex with to be at least a foot and a half taller than himself.  
  
I don't see the problem, myself - but then, in **my** species, the female is always larger than the male. But, hey, to each his own, right? So a Dragaeran woman was out, and Kragar wasn’t interested in hitting an Eastern brothel.  
  
“You’ve never wanted to check out the other side, Kragar? Where’s your sense of adventure?”  
  
“Where’s yours?”  
  
“I’ve tried out the local tags. Dragaeran women just don’t do it for me.”  
  
“Well, what makes you think an Easterner would do it for me?”  
  
“You told me so, yourself.”  
  
“I did?”  
  
“Well, sort of. Remember last week when we were talking about the Empress Zerika taking an Eastern lover? You said then that you didn’t see what all the fuss was about.“  
  
“I still don’t.”  
  
“But you’re not interested in trying it out for yourself?”  
  
“I didn’t say that, Vlad, but an Eastern brothel isn’t going to have what I’m looking for.”  
  
Kragar was looking a little tense by this point, then he quite obviously changed the subject, and the boss let it drop. Despite being dense about some things, they'd been partners long enough for the boss to realize when he's crossed the line. Once he stopped pushing, Kragar relaxed in no time, and things got back to normal. Well, normal for them, anyway.  
  
The two of them do make an odd pair. First, there’s the boss, a dark, short Eastern witch with his jhereg familiar (that's me) riding on his shoulder. Even if people didn’t know the boss was an assassin, they tended to avoid him. He just has an air about him that people recognize, something that says: ’Danger, stay away.’ And if that weren't enough by itself, there's me: I may look like a toy dragon, and my wingspan may be less than the length of the boss' arm, but I've got sharp claws and my bite is poisonous - nobody crosses the two of us if they can help it.  
  
And then, there’s Kragar, a lanky, 7 foot tall Dragaeran with a tendency to disappear if you aren’t watching too closely. He says he doesn’t do it on purpose, it just happens; but it’s really unsettling to suddenly realize someone has been sitting next to you for fifteen minutes before you noticed they were there. It's lots of fun for playing tricks on people, or sneaking up on someone who owes their boss Neilar money, but it drives Kragar crazy when he's trying to order a meal or a drink; he never gets waited on unless he's with someone else.  
  
The two had known each other as long as I’d been alive; as a matter of fact, they became partners the week I was born. If there was ever a Dragaeran the boss was comfortable with, besides Kiera of course, it was Kragar. Their partnership was based on mutual respect and trust, and it worked pretty well. For both of them.  
  
As I finished up their leftovers, they talked about going back to Nielar’s and doing a bit of gambling. But he’d just recently opened up a brothel upstairs from the gambling rooms, and both of them had been pulling a fair amount of shifts as muscle while things got settled in. In the end, they decided they’d seen enough of Nielar’s for a while. So they ended up over at the boss’ place, playing s’yang-stones and trading bullshit stories of gambling wins and losses.  
  
About half way through the bottle of wine they brought back with them, the boss started talking about women again, and Kragar got increasingly more quiet. I could tell that the boss just didn‘t have a clue, so when Kragar took a break to make friends with the chamberpot, I took the opportunity to gloat from my perch in the corner.  
  
 _You‘re just not getting it, are you boss?  
  
What the hell are you talking about, Loiosh?  
  
Have you noticed how quiet Kragar gets every time you start talking about women? Doesn’t that suggest anything to you?  
  
He’s shy?  
  
Right.  
  
I mean it. Think about it, Loiosh, he disappears into the landscape every time you look in the other direction. That can’t be good for a guy’s ego, especially if he‘s on a date.  
  
No, I’m sure you’re right about that. But that’s not what I’m talking about. Ever think there might be something he’s not telling you?  
  
Like what?  
  
When it comes to sex, Dragaeran’s have a totally different view on things than Easterners.  
  
What kind of ‘things‘ are you talking about, Loiosh?  
  
Think about it, boss - _  
  
At that point, Kragar came back into the room. We were both watching the doorway for him, so we managed to see him enter. “I think I’m going to head out now, Vlad.”  
  
“No, you’re not.”  
  
“I’m not?”  
  
“No. You’re going to have a seat, and let me fill that glass for you. Then, I have something to ask you.”  
  
He walked over to the couch and stared down at the boss, eyes narrowing. “You do, do you?”  
  
“Yes. Now get down here.” And with that, he grabbed Kragar’s arm and pulled him down onto the couch. It had been built for Dragaeran’s, so it was wide and deep, but the boss had the legs shortened, so with a few pillows behind him he could sit comfortably without dangling his feet like a little kid.  
  
So when he pulled Kragar down onto the couch, he fell farther than he was expecting, and landed sprawled all over the couch and the boss. I could tell neither one really needed another glass, when the two burst out laughing, and Kragar slipped off the couch and landed with a thud on the thick, woven rug.  
  
The boss finally stopped laughing and wiped his eyes. He looked around. "Where'd he go? Kragar?"  
  
"I'm right here, Vlad." He grabbed one of the boss' ankles and shook it.  
  
"What?" He blinked down at Kragar owlishly, "Oh, there you are. What are you doing on the floor? Get up here."  
  
By the time he’d gotten back on the couch, the boss had poured the last of the wine in his glass. “So...”  
  
“So...what?”  
  
“Hey, no need to be nervous. It’s just me.”  
  
“I’m not nervous. But I am suspicious.”  
  
“Suspicious? Of me?”  
  
“I know you, Vlad. That tone of voice is not one to inspire trust. You’ve got something up your sleeve.”  
  
“No I don’t. But I think Loiosh does.”  
  
 _I don’t have sleeves, boss._ I stretched out my leathery wings to prove my point.  
  
 _Well you would if you did._  
  
“Loiosh doesn’t have sleeves, Vlad.”  
  
“Funny, that’s just what he said.”  
  
“Well?”  
  
“Right. Loiosh seems to think you don’t like it when I talk about women.” Kragar gave me a frown that said, ‘No more lyorn wings for you, bud.’  
  
Great. _Thanks, boss, lay it all on my shoulders, why don’t you?  
  
You don’t have shoulders, Loiosh.  
  
Shut up, boss._ He just smirked at me psionically. Which is a weird thing to experience, just so you know.  
  
“So?”  
  
“So what?”  
  
“Is he right?”  
  
“Well, yeah, Vlad. I guess he is. Not that I mind you talking about women, but I sort of get the idea you expect me to talk back, and well, that’s what I don’t feel comfortable with.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
“I’d rather talk about men?”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
 _Told you!  
  
Did not.  
  
Well, I tried. It‘s not my fault you‘re exceptionally dense sometimes.  
  
Shut up, Loiosh.  
  
I get no respect. Even when I’m right._  
  
“So why don’t you?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Talk about men.”  
  
“Oh, right. Well, I know how it is for Easterners, that’s not well accepted by most. And I - well, I didn’t want that to color your opinion of me, I guess. It’s not really a big deal to me. It’s just the way I am. But that’s not the way it’s viewed by most Easterners-”  
  
“Kragar, I’m not most Easterners.”  
  
“I know that, Vlad. You’re here, aren’t you? It just wasn’t worth the trouble to me to find out if it would be a problem. So I just never brought it up.”  
  
“Is that why you bring tags with you when we go out together?”  
  
“I only did that a couple of times, when we first started working together. I’m not trying to deceive you, Vlad. If you asked, I always intended to tell you.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
“That’s it?”  
  
“Yeah. Unless you **want** to talk about it. Got any good stories?”  
  
“No, not really.”  
  
“Oh, too bad.” Then he shrugged. “Finish your wine, and I’ll open another bottle.”  
  
“Another game?”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
And that was it. For a while at least. But I knew he couldn’t leave it alone for too long, that‘s just not the boss’ style. And I was right, half-way through the next bottle, the subject came up again.  
  
“So, you seeing anyone, Kragar?”  
  
“Umm...no, Vlad, I’m not.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
“Why do you want to know?”  
  
“Just curious.”  
  
“Curious.”  
  
“Alright, I’ll admit it. I’m wondering why I never got it. I mean, Loiosh got it, why didn’t I?”  
  
 _I’m smarter than you are?  
  
Shut up, Loiosh. And stop laughing._ I couldn’t help it, I giggled. I got a nasty look for that. He hates it when I giggle.  
  
“I don’t know, Vlad. It’s not like I ever really hid anything, I just avoided the subject whenever possible. You know me, I‘m kind of a private guy, anyway.” He leaned back against the couch, slouched down, his long legs crossed in front of him. He shrugged. “It’s really not that big a deal.”  
  
“Yes it is.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
He hesitated, looking slightly embarrassed. I like that look on the boss, I seldom get to see it. I pretended I wasn’t staring, but I couldn’t help it. This was beginning to look interesting.  
  
“Okay. Don’t get me wrong, but I’m just curious. That’s all.”  
  
“So you said.”  
  
“No. I mean - **curious**.”  
  
It took Kragar a moment, but he figured it out, and a shocked look spread over his face. I have to admit, I didn‘t blame him. It took me by surprise, too, and I'm his familiar. You would think I'd have noticed - something, right? Kragar spoke hesitantly: “You want to know what it’s like?”  
  
“I always wondered what the difference was. Between kissing a man and a woman, that is.”  
  
Kragar looked right into the boss’ eyes then, and asked, his voice kind of low and scratchy: “Would you like me to show you, Vlad?”  
  
He hesitated, but Kragar used his own words against him: “Come on, Vlad. Where’s your sense of adventure?”  
  
“Alright.” The word was out of his mouth almost before he realized he’d been played. But he didn’t back down, just stared a challenge right back at Kragar, a flush flooding his face.  
  
Kragar moved closer to him, so they were sitting right up next to each other. He took the wine glass out of the boss’ hand, and set it on the side table. He looked a little nervous, and so did the boss.  
  
Kragar bent down anyway, very slowly getting closer and closer, then just as they got within touching distance, they both tilted their heads in the same direction, and bumped noses. I kept my laughter to myself; if the boss remembered I was still in the room he would send me out, and I really wanted to see this.  
  
They both backed up and grinned sheepishly at each other, then Kragar moved in again and they both turned the opposite direction and suddenly they were both laughing loudly, and Kragar was shouting: “What happened to my Verra-be-damned wine?” So they both grabbed their glasses and drank deeply, and I realized this wasn’t going to go anywhere unless they stopped drinking very soon.  
  
It gave me a moment to think about what was going on, though, and suddenly I realized why this all seemed so weird to me. It wasn't because they were both guys. It was because Kragar was Dragaeran, and the boss had always been very vocal in how he felt about having sex with Dragaerans.  
  
But the only Dragaerans he'd ever had sex with had been tags, and the boss had never been that happy about sex with prostitutes, even if they were Easterners. He always said it felt so impersonal. And he's right, it is impersonal. Sex with a stranger.  
  
But this was totally different. The boss knew Kragar. They were friends. Hell, he trusted Kragar with his life - you can't get much closer than that. So there it was. Now it made sense to me. It wasn't about having sex with a Dragaeran, it was about having sex with Kragar, and that was what made the difference.  
  
They both had the giggles now, and I have to admit, that was a very strange sight. No one should be allowed to giggle while wearing the grey and black of the House of Jhereg. I think it's actually a rule of the House. Well, if it's not, it should be.  
  
Kragar put his empty glass on the floor, leaned back against the cushions, and just kept sliding, until he was stretched out, half-lying on the couch, with his feet still on the floor. They were both still snickering and giggling softly, and Kragar lifted his head, looked over at Vlad and sighed.  
  
“Oh well. It was a nice thought, anyway.” Then he let his head flop back onto the couch, and closed his eyes. The boss just stared at him for a minute, then setting his glass back down again, he dragged himself up until he was leaning over Kragar, bracing his hands on either side of Kragar’s head.  
  
“Are you asleep?”  
  
Kragar opened one eye, and squinted up at him. “I don’t think so. Are you?”  
  
“I don’t think so either.”  
  
“Good.”  
  
Then he wrapped his hand around the back of the boss’ neck and pulled his face down until their lips met. It looked to me like they just rubbed their lips up against each other's for a moment or two, barely touching, then the boss tilted his head slightly, and they deepened the kiss. In no time, I could hear the boss moaning into Kragar’s mouth, then Kragar was moaning back, and his other hand came around and pressed into the small of the boss’ back. At one point, Kragar pulled back and fingered the Boss' mustache. He laughed. "I was right. It does tickle."  
  
The kissing got livelier after that, and louder - but I couldn’t honestly tell any difference between the way the boss was kissing Kragar and the way he kissed any **girl** he’d been with. Except that Kragar had a deeper voice, and seemed a bit more aggressive than most of the boss’ first dates.  
  
There was a flurry of awkward movement, arms and legs everywhere, and when it settled, they were both lying on the couch. The boss was stretched out full-length over Kragar, with one leg between his, leaning on his elbows above him, and Kragar had both hands planted firmly on the boss’ ass.  
  
I sort of expected them to find the position awkward, with Kragar’s long torso and legs, and the boss a good foot and a half shorter, but surprisingly they seemed to fit together pretty well. The boss’ knee was pressed firmly against Kragar’s groin, his own groin rubbing against Kragar’s hip, and they were both grinding against each other like they were in a race to see which one could get off first.  
  
The boss started licking and sucking on Kragar’s pulse point about then, and Kragar shuddered and moaned loudly, throwing his head back into the cushions to give the boss more room to work. He ran one hand down the inside of the boss’ thigh, while the other one pushed up his tunic and ran along his bare back, and Kragar moaned out the boss‘ name, bucking his hips up against his leg.  
  
The boss was circling his hips to get the best pressure against his groin. Both of them were panting and gasping and I had a feeling this was not going to last much longer. Kragar had closed his legs, trapping the boss’ leg between them, and was thrusting his hips against it in a sinuous, kind of sideways shimmy. It looked sort of like he was going to knock a hip out of joint if he kept that up, but hey, what would I know, I don‘t have hips, so I didn’t say a thing. I wasn’t about to say anything anyway, this was the best entertainment I’d had in ages.  
  
The hand Kragar had been exploring the boss' back with then moved south, and slipped between his breeches and his skin, running a finger or two down the crack of the boss’ ass. Surprisingly, the boss just went crazy over that, and started moaning again loudly, as he ground his pelvis into Kragar’s hip, then he jerked violently twice and froze, crying out as he came.  
  
Kragar wasn’t far behind, I could tell, but then the boss reached down, and twisted sideways, throwing off Kragar’s rhythm. He looked up in surprise just as the boss grabbed Kragar's cock right through his clothes and squeezed tightly. Well, that was all it took. Kragar bucked his hips once and came, with the boss’ name on his lips.  
  
"Vlad!"  
  
Wow. That was all I could think of to say. I sat there on my perch, stunned. The whole thing may have only lasted about five minutes, but I have to admit, that was **intense.** The boss moved back up, and collapsed on top of Kragar, and they just lay there while their breathing calmed. I thought they were going to end up falling asleep that way, but finally, the boss moved, rolling off to the side with a grunt.  
  
“Verra!”  
  
“You can say that again.”  
  
“Well, that was - intense.” I was tempted to tell him I’d already said that, but it looked like they'd both forgotten I was around, and I wanted to keep it that way. My head was tucked slightly under my wing, so it looked like I was asleep, but I could still see what was going on. I saw the boss look over in the direction of my perch, but he didn't say anything, so it was possible I'd fooled him. It's hard to tell with the boss, sometimes; he's sneaky like that.  
  
Finally, he sighed heavily, crawled over Kragar and stood up. He grabbed one of Kragar’s hands and pulled him to his feet. “I think we both need to clean up." Kragar laughed in acknowledgement, and grabbed the bottle of wine. They staggered down the hallway, arms wrapped around each other in an effort to stay upright. “I don’t know about you, but I feel like sleeping in tomorrow."  
  
“Vlad, you sleep in every day.”  
  
The boss leaned up against the wall and pointed a finger at a grinning Kragar. “You can shut up any time now. Come on, while we clean up, you can tell me what you want for breakfast.”  
  
"Ooh, breakfast!" Kragar's grin got even bigger. I don't blame him, having the boss cook for you is always something to look forward to.  
  
As they disappeared through the doorway, the boss turned his head back in my direction: _Good night, Loiosh._  
  
Busted! _Night, boss. Pleasant dreams._ I had a feeling I wasn’t getting off that easily. I’d hear about it tomorrow, after Kragar left. Well, hopefully, getting laid will at least put him in a better mood. I flew into the kitchen, where I scrounged around and found some of the sausage we’d had for breakfast this morning. I dug in. Sex always makes me hungry.

 

**Author's Note:**

> A Brief Intro into DragaeraVerse, and Our Three Characters:
> 
> The main protagonist of these novels is Vlad Taltos. He's a witch with extraordinary skills. Witches use a sort of magic that is based in the East, Vlad's ancestral home. It's very similar to what we expect from witchcraft...spells and enchanted daggers and incense, but it really works. 
> 
> Vlad has a familar called Loiosh. (That's pronounced 'Loy' as in boy, osh as in 'oh, shit' - without the 'it' on the end.) Loiosh is a jhereg, a creature much like a dragon in shape, but much, much smaller. Loiosh's wingspan is no wider than the length of Vlad's arm. He sits perched on Vlad's shoulder a fair amount of the time. And he's picked up a couple of bad habits from Vlad. First off, he calls Vlad "Boss," which is what Vlad calls his employer Nielar. And second, they've both got a really nasty sense of humor. Loiosh is the narrator of this fic.
> 
> Vlad, being an Easterner, is what we would probably think of as Slavic stock: short and muscular, dark hair and eyes. He lives in a country populated, for the most part, by Dragaerans - a species similar to Easterners.
> 
> The main physical differences between the two are size, body shape and longevity. The average height of a Dragaeran is 7 feet tall; Dragaeran's bodies are thin, with almost no muscle showing, but they are extremely strong, despite that. They also live to an average of somewhere in the 2000 year range. They can't grow facial hair, which is why Vlad sports a mustache. 
> 
> Jheregs (the creatures) are scavengers, and The Jhereg (the House) is basically the Underbelly of Dragaeran society...they run the rackets, the money lenders, the whorehouses and illegal gambling operations....bottom feeders. Vlad, who belongs to the House of Jereg, is beginning to make a name for himself by beating up Dragaerans. He's good at what he does. He's recently become an assassin, but he only kills Dragaerans, never Easterners, and his reputation has just started to grow.
> 
> His partner is another misplaced Jhereg. Because for some strange reason, Kragar has the ability to disappear. It's not intentional, people just don't notice he's around. He used to belong to the House of the Dragon (a House renown for it's military leaders), but how could he lead his troops when they didn't notice he was giving commands - even in the heat of battle? So he either left the House, or was kicked out, depending on who you talk to, of course.
> 
> Now he's become a Jhereg. He and Vlad work well together, and in a world populated by assassins and rival gangs fighting over territory, it's good to have someone at your back that you can trust. Vlad and Kragar take care of each other, and in his own way, Loiosh does the same.


End file.
